I have been wanting to be able to ride bike, and so I had decided I would start checking garage sales or thrift shops to see if I could find a bike. My hubby said he had one up in the barn and would get it down and fix it up for me. I thought "great!". I even put a "yellow stickie" on the kitchen table with the word "bike" and drew a picture of me riding it. (All of this because he often needs a visual reminder to get something done).
FINALLY, Thursday evening he got the bike down and showed it to me. Let's just say, it was not exactly like one of the new mountain or road bikes in the stores. But He assured me it will work fine. Friday evening he oiled all the gears, etc. on the bike. As you can see from the picture, it is still going to need a little work. But we both tried it out, and it actually rides just fine. Now when I get a really nice day, I'm going to clean it up and see if I can get some of the rust off of it. Any ideas of something that works well to remove rust without a lot of work? Or maybe I'll just try Coke--I think someone told me it takes off rust. (Imagine what it does to our insides!)
So now--no more excuses. Even though it's only about 40 degrees today, it is sunny. So I believe I will take the bike for a premier spin and just hope that I'm not too old to stay upright on a bike. I canceled my fitness center membership for the summer, so I'm hoping this will be a way to keep up with my exercise goals. Walking around my country mile by myself is just plain boring.
[Post-Script]: I just got back from my premier ride, and I learned something. Apparently riding bike does not use the same muscles as walking on the treadmill. I only rode 2 miles (part of it riding into the wind) and my legs are like jelly. When I got back, Lynn looked at my hand grips and said, "No wonder you were working so hard--you had it set on ;high'! Duh! Maybe next time I'll start out in 'low'.
